What is your proposal story?

Jun 5, 2012 5:08 AM

I'm hoping some of you are in the mood to tell some romantic stories. :)

My husband (we had our ten year anniversary this past December) carried a ring box in the cargo pocket of his shorts for an entire weekend in Carmel, CA, while looking for an appropriate setting to propose. I honestly had no idea he was trying to do so, and I had twisted my ankle so NO I did NOT want to go for a romantic walk on the beach, etc. I made it hard for him, but he eventually found a semi-romantic setting about an hour before the end of our weekend getaway. It was a total surprise and very sweet.

What's your story? How did you/he/she pop the question? What was your response?

I did have two marriage proposals prior to my husband but they were not very serious. One was a "I just want to throw this out there in case it is possible you would consider it" and the other was a last ditch effort to save a failed relationship. Both were quite awkward to get through. Third time is the charm, right?

Top Answers

It was my birthday, and prior to my party I wrapped a large box with a diamond ring in it and put my name on the box leaving the "From" part blank. No one knew I was doing this, not even my brother or best friend. During the present opening part of the party my brother brought the box to me to open, and I asked who it was from but no fessed up (of course). I opened the box, but because it was so big no one could see what was in it. I said to my girlfriend "babe, you have to see this" and when she came over to look in the box I pulled the ring out, got down on one knee and said "you would make this the best birthday ever if you would be my wife". There wasn't a dry eye in the place, and my aunts and my mother were wailing like banshees.

Two notes: our sixteenth anniversary was last Sunday... and yes, it was the best birthday ever.

My boyfriend at the time had a key to my house, we had been dating for 5 years. He worked close to my job and said he was leaving work early to go look at copiers and he'd see me later that night. I left work and came home as I normally would. Pulled in the garage and went in to the house through the door that leads right in to the kitchen, which is long (kitchen/eat in kitchen combo). What I walked in to was a path of candles, rose petals, and every little thing I had ever given him....cards, books, notes, pictures, you name it, it was laying there, he had saved everything - and at the end of the path was him standing there in a suit, holding a box. I walked to him and he got down on one knee and nervously gave me a short speech and proposed. I said yes and our ten year anniversary is this fall. Unknown to me he had even called my parents to ask my Dad for approval, so they knew what was going on, but his parents didn't. So we went to each of their houses to show off the ring.

Continued....he had parked his car around the block, I had no idea he was there, so it was a total surprise when I walked through the door. Also, he's not a very emotional person, so the fact that he actually had all those things I had given him was completely shocking.

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It was my birthday, and prior to my party I wrapped a large box with a diamond ring in it and put my name on the box leaving the "From" part blank. No one knew I was doing this, not even my brother or best friend. During the present opening part of the party my brother brought the box to me to open, and I asked who it was from but no fessed up (of course). I opened the box, but because it was so big no one could see what was in it. I said to my girlfriend "babe, you have to see this" and when she came over to look in the box I pulled the ring out, got down on one knee and said "you would make this the best birthday ever if you would be my wife". There wasn't a dry eye in the place, and my aunts and my mother were wailing like banshees.

Two notes: our sixteenth anniversary was last Sunday... and yes, it was the best birthday ever.

Proposal story? We had gotten into a huge fight after dating for six months because he refused to be tested for STIs and I finally informed him that was a deal-breaker. I was visiting my family about 90 minutes away from the city where we both lived; he drove out the next day and proposed, while noting that he still refused to get tested.

The wonder, dear reader, is that I said yes.

Absolutely true story that I have never told to anyone until posting it here. (It took about another two months before he finally broke down and got tested.)

Looking forward to reading more wonderful, happy stories like @tarasadies' great proposal! What a sweet story. :)

My boyfriend at the time had a key to my house, we had been dating for 5 years. He worked close to my job and said he was leaving work early to go look at copiers and he'd see me later that night. I left work and came home as I normally would. Pulled in the garage and went in to the house through the door that leads right in to the kitchen, which is long (kitchen/eat in kitchen combo). What I walked in to was a path of candles, rose petals, and every little thing I had ever given him....cards, books, notes, pictures, you name it, it was laying there, he had saved everything - and at the end of the path was him standing there in a suit, holding a box. I walked to him and he got down on one knee and nervously gave me a short speech and proposed. I said yes and our ten year anniversary is this fall. Unknown to me he had even called my parents to ask my Dad for approval, so they knew what was going on, but his parents didn't. So we went to each of their houses to show off the ring.

Continued....he had parked his car around the block, I had no idea he was there, so it was a total surprise when I walked through the door. Also, he's not a very emotional person, so the fact that he actually had all those things I had given him was completely shocking.

I wanted to propose in a way that was special to just me and her, and a little odd, so:
My wife and I are classic Simpson fans, and when I proposed, I did so the same way Ralph asked Lisa to go to the 29th Annual Krusty Spectacular. I found a toy car where the trunk opened, and left a note in the seat that said "Look in the tunk". When she opened the trunk, the ring was there and I asked for her hand in marriage.
Turned out better than Ralph and Lisa, as we are coming up on our 5th year wedding anniversary.

I am not really the romantic type and was in college so I spent all my money and then some on the ring. Now my wife is hard to surprise so I came up with an idea to spell out will you marry me using glow in the dark stars on our bedroom ceiling. So I was lying in bed watching tv and she comes in lays down says good night, I shut the tv off and wait I thought at first she was just going to fall a sleep so I asked her a question and she rolled over and in mid sentence she goes whats that on the and before she could finish she says YES.

Ours wasn't very romantic, but both he and I are sorta the opposite of the mushy types. We both just knew it was time. We'd already been through a whole lot together over the last 18 months (he moved halfway across the country for me, unemployment, the loss of a close relative, etc.) and we'd made it happily through each obstacle together. We were sitting in the living room talking about the future and one of us (we don't remember which one!) said something romantic like "what if we got married?" It was important to him to have my father's blessing, so we went to my parents' house that night so he could ask. We were married about 2 months after that at the courthouse with about 15 friends and loved ones. On our 1 year anniversary, we threw a big party/pig roast so we could celebrate our marriage with everyone who didn't fit into the small courthouse and had a blast. Our second anniversary is coming up in July.

this one isn't mine (obviously since mine's above), but I just have to share it, especially as I just saw it happen last week!

We work for a company that flies people onstage (think Peter Pan) and were hosting a conference where we put a few "performances" together to showcase some of what we can do. The proposer asked a coworker to choreograph a piece for he and his girlfriend (who often flies with/for us) to perform so he could propose at the end of it in front of everyone there. And here it is, proposal and all: http://youtu.be/B2N6H4QxwB8 I've never seen so many grown men crying.

Not only is it gorgeous, but it's actually a cool concept piece as the operator is a part of the performance rather than being hidden offstage, allowing the operator to be an active "character".

My husband and I had lived together for two years and decided to go to the mall on my birthday. We went into a jewelry store and scraped our pennies together over the last few months and bought a ring that day. We went home and he proposed in our living room. Not the most romantic, but really, we planned on getting married and having kids together two days into our relationship. We just had our third wedding anniversary, 5 years together. :)

My previous boyfriend proposed in a very interesting way though. He asked a bunch of my friends and family what type of ring I liked and picked out the perfect one. He gave me some "just because" roses, and asked me to get something out of the trunk of his car, when I went to open it a bunch of balloons flew out and I was quite surprised. I turned around and he was on his knee and he gave me a lovely proposal. I said yes but we ended the engagement amicably after he moved for college; we are still really good friends today though.

I'm kinda a hopeless romantic, but try to keep at least some of it contained...

My fiance (we're getting married Sept 1), LOVES theatre and dance and musicals and the whole bit.
For her birthday, I decided to get her a "coupon" from me to one free showing of a theatre performance of her choosing.
One of our local theatres was showing Grease at the time (absolutely one of her favorites). I figured she'd pick this one and I kinda hinted at it as being an option.

Two weeks later, we set a date and I ordered the tickets for the dinner and theatre performance of Grease.

We watched the show (well, at least she watched the show...I was a little distracted). At the end of the show, those on stage gave their final bow and everyone's applauding.
I reach across the table and grab her hands, and begin to tell her how much I love her and that I want to spend the rest of our lives going to shows together.
At this time, I get down on one knee and ask for her hand in marriage.
{continued below}

The whole time she's going, "is this really happening, is this really happening" (out loud).
I reassure her that "yes, it is happening, I love you and want to spend the rest of my life expressing that love to you."
She says yes, and I slip the ring on her hand that I've had in my pocket for the last 4 hours.

After a few minutes, we decide that we'll go tell her mom/show off the ring, so we do that, and then over to my parents and then her brother/sister-in-law's place, and then over to one of our friends house (where everyone else was hanging out).

It was a great evening, and one that I'll cherish for a VERY, VERY long time.

My now-husband told me he was taking me out to dinner at our favorite restaurant in town for my birthday a few days early. The restaurant doesn't take reservations and when we got there, the wait was very long. So he told me to pick any other restaurant I wanted. I took my time to pick a place (thinking that this was just dinner and there was no rush). We walked almost the whole length of downtown before I found a place and we went in.

The whole meal he seemed very nervous and got up two or three times to check his phone, as reception was bad in the restaurant. Halfway through eating, I asked him how his food was. He frowned, looked down at his plate, and said "really good" as though it was the first time he was tasting it.

He rushed me out of the restaurant saying that he had a surprise for me and we had to hurry. We fast-walked to the other end of downtown (around the corner from the first restaurant), to see a horsedrawn carriage waiting for us (I love horses).

We were about 20 minutes late for our carriage appointment, but luckily the driver waited. The carriage took us up on a bluff overlooking the river and all around downtown, before dropping us off near a walking bridge.

We walked onto the bridge and were looking over the river when he got down on one knee and asked to spend the rest of our lives together. I said yes. Our first anniversary is coming up this September.

Before Valentine's day, I had shown my now-husband a jewlery set and a type of engagement ring that I liked in a catalog when we were with his daughter. Later she joked that she knew what I was getting for Valentine's day and my birthday (in May). I got the jewelry set for Valentine's day, so I assumed he was going to propose for my birthday - we were clearly on that path and it was just a matter of time for the actual proposal. My Dad and StepMom came to our house for the weekend of my birthday and I thought he was going to do the whole ask for permission and proposal thing then. Nothing. My birthday evening rolls around and still nothing - now I am PISSED! Not only didn't I get a proposal, I didn't even get so much as a card! I am trying not to be too upset because he keeps trying to apologize (and runs down to the drugstore for a card) saying "if you only knew". I figured he did something stupid...
[cont..]

I met her on 21 Dec, the last day of high school before Christmas. We actually lived about a block away from each other and had never met, though she knew my younger brother because he knew her younger brother.

A few days later, my youngest brother came in the house and said "some girl is out back and wants to talk to you". She was sitting on a swing in a common area behind my house.

I felt she was pretty special, and on 16 Feb (if I'd been smart it would have been 14 Feb) I proposed while we were talking between classes at school. She dropped her books and couldn't believe it - almost falling down the steps.

We were married that Oct and this year will be married for 33 years.

Didn't ask her parents permission because they didn't like me - luckily that changed a LONG time ago.

Oddly enough, the day I met her (21 Dec) - our fourth son was born on 21 Dec 9 years later.

[...cont]
Our "anniversary" of dating was 3 days later, so I thought he was planning it for that day and forgot I would be mad that he didn't have anything on my birthday. So I just waited it out. He took me to a fancy restaurant (the one we go to for apologies :) and was nervous the whole dinner, asking me weird questions about was I sure I loved him, etc. I kept expecting a ring at any point, even checking in my chocolate souflee!

Then after dinner (still no ring), he wanted to go for a walk around the little courtyard by the river. He took me over to a bench and dropped down on one knee and proposed. A very creepy homeless man looked on the whole time from two benches over - it really made it special :)

It turns out when he went to pick up the ring the Friday before my birthday it had been sized wrong - 9.5 instead of 7.5 and they couldn't size it smaller until the next week. He panicked and didn't want to propose without my real ring. We've been married over 6 years now.

@smtatertot13: Nice video. This one seems very genuine and she seems very surprised. Or she is a really good actress. Which is possible.

My story is very, very dull. It is something which we had been discussing for several months, including rings, etc. We are currently geographically apart, so I was visiting her. Unfortunately, the ring was delayed. So, that weekened I let her know that no proposal was forthcoming that weekend.

The weekend after (or maybe the one after that) she came here. We went to a very nice place for dinner. I was going to ask her there, but thought the better of it. Glad I did: she wanted it to be private. Which it was, back at my temporary apartment.

One thing that I'm always curious about: we see so many of the cute wedding proposals where she says "YES!" How about the public humiliation ones? They have to be out there. (continued)

A friend of mine lives in New Mexico, retired from a public safety gig. He flies balloons, and takes some people up (for money) for rides. He has had several propose in the balloon. I keep telling him he needs to be more careful: one of these days somebody may end up taking the express elevator down if a proposal goes wrong.

EDIT:
Here is one from YouTube bystander. The guy proposed in a Food Court with musicians. It didn't come off well. The comment from the amateur videographer is "Oh my God. That is brutal."

i was sick. very sick. seizures and emergency rooms sick. lumbar punctures and MS testing sick.
and he was there the whole time.
but we bickered a lot. we still do.
we were in a heated argument, which escalated to the extent that i dared him to spend the rest of his life with me.
he went downstairs and asked my dad if he could propose.
and then he did.

I also had to share a story of a friend of mine who accidentally got engaged. He is in his 50s and divorced, dating a women also divorced in her 50s. She had a favorite jeweler where she had picked out a few pieces for him to choose from for presents for various occasions. For Christmas he looked at a nice artsy cocktail ring - not at all intended to be an engagement ring. He even had a conversation with the (female) jeweler about whether she would THINK it was an engagement ring and the jeweler said "no way." (I think she was in on it).

Christmas morning they are with their adult kids opening presents and she opens the box with the ring as part of the normal present opening (because it was supposed to be just a regular present). She starts to cry and then says "Yes, oh yes" or something like that and Bam! They're engaged! As far as I know he has never told her. They are still happily married for I believe 4 years.

@smtatertot13: Oh, my goodness! What a beautiful, magical performance, ending even more magically than one could imagine. (I'm all weepy, too.) Thank you ever so much for sharing the story and the link.

We met at 1am in early January in the parking lot of the building in which we both worked; we stood talking in the cold for over two hours. I changed jobs two weeks later. It took me two months to work up the courage to email him and ask him to my home for dinner. He showed up with flowers and candy. We dated. His work shift ended at 1am; mine began at 7:30am. Some nights he headed for his own apartment; sometimes he came to my house. On days off we slept in, ran errands together, and slid right into loving each other. Sixteen months later, mid-morning of July 4, I swallowed hard, hugged him, and suggested with some hesitation that instead of renewing his apartment lease the next month perhaps he'd like to move in with me. He looked at me in surprise and said he thought I liked living alone. I replied, "I do, but I've come to hate saying good-bye to you more than I like living alone." [cont'd]

[cont'd] There we stood for a minute or so, cheek to cheek, then he pushed me back just a bit, looked into my eyes, and asked me to marry him. With a certain lack of grace I asked if that was a real ask, and he repeated the question, adding that he'd have asked me months earlier except for that living-alone thing of mine. We cancelled plans to watch the Independence Day fireworks that night and created some of our own instead. We set a date for that October. My son became a notary so he could officiate for us; we gathered a few close friends and family members and formalized the marriage our hearts had already begun. We'll celebrate our 13th anniversary this fall.

Did I mention he has the brightest, twinkliest blue eyes I've ever seen?

Not me, but my nephew did a fine job of proposing. He cut huge letters out of poster board and attached them to the roof of the house they were living in. "Will you marry me?" Then he took her on a helicopter ride over their house. Pretty cool.

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